(The Center Square) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the state would restrict state-funded travel to Missouri, Nebraska and Wyoming in response to the passage of allegedly “anti-LGBTQ” legislation in these states.
As a result of California’s AB 1887, a 2016 law that banned state-funded travel to any state determined by the California Department of Justice to in any way discriminate against the LGBTQ community, Bonta must maintain and post a list of the soon-to-be 26 states banned from California state-funded travel.
For Missouri, Bonta targeted SB 39, a bill that withholds education funding for schools that allow male-to-female transgender individuals to participate in female sports teams.
For Nebraska, Bonta cited LB 574, which he says, “makes it a departure from the medical standard of care to provide gender-affirming care for someone who is 19 years old or younger except subject to rigorous criteria in regulations to be developed by the [Nebraska’s] Chief Medical Officer.” Because LB 574 enters effect in November, Nebraska travel would only be banned beginning then.
For Wyoming, Bonta quoted SF 133, which bans public K-12 schools, and private schools competing against public schools from allowing male-to-female transgender students to participate in female sports teams.
“By preventing transgender individuals from participating in sports aligned with their gender identity, or by denying them access to critical healthcare, these legislative actions directly contradict the values of inclusivity and diversity,” Bonta said. “As mandated by AB 1887, we are, thus, compelled to impose restrictions on state-funded travel to Missouri, Nebraska, and Wyoming in response to their discriminatory laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community.”
The governors’ offices of Missouri, Nebraska, and Wyoming did not respond to requests for comment by publication.
